A Long Beach homeless shelter known as Project Achieve that’s been operating in the city’s Magnolia District since 2005 can now become a 24-hour operation, after the Planning Commission approved the move at its Thursday, Jan. 3, meeting.

While commenting on his own vote, Commissioner Andy Perez said that he was “very humbled” to allow for the Catholic Charities-run shelter to implement the change.

“This is pretty emotional for me,” he said, after hearing testimonies about the impact that Catholic Charities has had on its clients’ lives.

One of those stories came from David Arroyo, who said he was homeless from 2007 to 2012. Through a Catholic Charities program, he was able to get a job and find his own apartment. He now does his own ministry work.

Until now, the shelter at 1368 Oregon Ave. — which offers transitional housing to adults who are already receiving homeless services and are expected to soon move to permanent housing — has only been open on a nightly basis, from 4:30 p.m. to 9:30 a.m.

While an extension of those hours may not seem like a critical issue, Catholic Charities associate program director Veronique Johnson said it has the potential to change lives.

She said that because the shelter does not accept walk-ins, people who have been approved to be housed there must be transported to and from the facility at designated drop-off and pick-up times, which don’t provide any flexibility to work with people’s other time commitments.

Because of that, Johnson said, many of her clients have had to choose between staying in the shelter and accepting a job or enrolling in classes that had conflicting hours with the shelter’s transportation schedule.

“With the current limitation, the program serves more as a barrier to clients obtaining self-reliance and resolving their homelessness,” she said. If someone gets a job offer that doesn’t work with the shelter’s schedule, she said, “the client has to decline taking that job.”

Catholic Charities Regional Director Bruce Hackman said the switch will also allow for people to have more time to receive other services during the day, such as resume-building, interview coaching or getting assistance for issues like substance abuse.

“Our goal is that, during the day, it’ll be a lot easier to help the client when they’re in the building, instead of running around Long Beach trying to find the client,” he said. “We’re hoping this will help augment the program we have already at Project Achieve.”

As for what the extended hours will mean for the largely industrial neighborhood, city officials and Catholic Charities agree that it won’t change much.

City records show that for at least the past four years, there have been no reports of major incidents at the shelter.

Hackman said the organization has developed a plan that will include hiring more staff and security on the property to ensure the site maintains its clean record.

“We have made this a plan for the next year of how we can make Project Achieve a safe place,” he said.

Hayley Munguia covers Long Beach City Hall for the Southern California News Group. She previously worked as a data reporter for FiveThirtyEight and has written for The Week, the Jerusalem Post and the Austin American-Statesman, among other publications. She's originally from Austin, graduated from NYU and will pet a dog any chance she gets.